The Phoenix
by queenpearl
Summary: The birth of Phoenix, from her own point of view.


I was an instrument of destruction. I remember being born in a mass production factory. The two-legged creatures who gave birth to me spoke of nothing but war and Death! My sisters were being launched at increasing rates and the demand for my kind was high. Factories like the one I was born in were a rare and prized commodity as destruction rained down on the world.

Days turned to weeks and weeks into months. For some reason I was spared my sisters' fate, my life being extinguished in a bright nuclear blast as I took hundreds with me. I was spared that but sat in the back of a warehouse for years, my white plating turning tan and then brown as it gathered impurities.

Then one day the dark hanger flooded with light. A human female stood in the doorway, her dark skin blending with the shadows. Her eyes fell on my still form and she walked up to me without fear, though her eyes still darted about as if she was seeing someone flitting about the shadows. But there was no one else here. No one but her and me.

She halted at the base of my rocket, her hands remaining firmly at her sides. A small part of me wondered what it would be like to feel her flesh on my plating, to actually feel a human touch. But she merely gazed up and down, inspecting every plate, every bolt. At last she returned to her original position in front of me and said "You'll do." Thus I began my new purpose.

I was moved to a new facility that was decidedly more cramped than the previous one. My sensitive instruments were removed, my guidance system cannibalized. The circuit boards were rewired, enhancing my navigation. My steel plates, rested and corroded so, were removed and replaced slowly. The girl and the old man who worked on me had to scrounge to find enough metal to remake my worn out parts. But I had to admire their ingenuity.

I was told I would be something entirely new. A new ship to usher in a new age of ships. Modifications were made as such. My hull became strengthened, navigation and piloting systems perfected and these entirely new "pods" were added, able to fit into their own slots in my hull. I was fueled and ready.

Then, the night before, explosions rocked my peaceful surroundings. The brave humans near me were killed. I'm only glad that it was quick for them. I felt pain along my sides, I'd been injured. My senses detected newcomers. Who were they? Where they the ones who initiated this attack? I quivered at my strut-moorings. There were two of them, a red man and a gold man. They looked official and otherwise normal. But what got me were their eyes. Deep brown and glittering gold reflected a wisdom I had never seen. A knowledge they shouldn't have, but did.

The red man placed a hand on my plating and closed his eyes as he felt my hum of life beneath his fingers. I'd been touched many times since moving to this place but his was different. Every worry, every concern that marked the lines on his slightly weathered face I could feel through his soft hand.

"What are you doing captain" The gold man asked.

The "captain" sighed. "A childhood dream, Data. From when I'd seen her in a museum." He replied.

 _"Museum?"_ What did he mean? That I was a museum where he came from?! _Where he came from?!_ "What the hell is going on?!" I wanted to shout but of course no one could hear me.

The red man backed off, ducking as the woman returned with a lead shooting weapon. The gold man, Mr. Data I believe, confronted her. Shortly after the three disappeared in this weird blue light of some kind, dissolving into thin air almost.

They were back soon though, and this time with the old man but they appeared more agitated, concerned. They kept looking at the sky and patting the weird arrowhead symbol on their chests. I didn't understand but I knew something was up, something that I wasn't supposed to know or be involved in, but was. The strange newcomers replaced my original crew and helped to prep me for my flight. Their knowledge of my inner workings was unnerving to say the least. No one but the old man knew such things. Again, I was reminded of this "museum" they spoke of. Could they be from the future? A crazy thought to be sure but at this point I was willing to believe anything! The way they spoke, as if events had already happened, helped to confirm my theory.

The big day arrived and the countdown began. To the tune of the old man's music I flew. Like a Phoenix from the ashes I rose and swore into the deep blue and then infinite inky black. The silver glow of the moon could be seen directly in front of me and just off my flank, a ship I'd never seen before and somehow knew should've been impossible to meet.

An elongated head rested on a short but graceful neck. Her belly was long but not tall, not "fat" as the humans say. Her features were enhanced by a long pair of pods that stretched out from her back. They glowed blue like mine. Her head turned as her body shifted to the side in a lazy role. She looked at home out here, as indeed she was. She was a queen, a graceful silver queen of the infinite space.

She circled and I admired her sleek lines, the easy way she moved here. She was a queen and I was in her territory. Yet, she was not hostile. She completed her roll, flashes of blue light streaking towards me. They passed off my stern. Her eyes, bioluminescent blue, (I could've sworn they were green) fell upon me. Again, she half-rolled lazily. Her eyes were twinkling. She was inviting me to dance, this graceful silver swan, Queen of the Starfleet. And so dance we did, our steps ushering in a new age…

THE END


End file.
